A New Pretender

6

The Centre never lied to me. They had no reason to. You were kidnapped. I came from their test tubes. I don't know where they got the genetic materials that were used to create me.
You came from Blue Cove. The Centre bought an island. Satellites show there are houses on the island, no large structures, which means everything is under ground.
The Centre didn't want me to know about you in order to prevent a third escaped Pretender. But that didn't work.
My DSA's recorded Mr. Lyle telling someone they were going to use me to locate you. He had me microchipped, but I found every locator and removed them. The only time they find me is when I let them.
I met Nia. At the time it seemed okay to stay with her. I don't blame you for liking her... she's very nice.

Dana wasn't finished thinking over the note she had left behind for Nia to pass on to him. The Three Stooges were playing on her burner phone, but she wasn't really paying attention to what was happening on the little screen.

What mattered to her was keeping Nia safe. That was why she left the woman's house so many hours ago. Unless the Centre used a dog, they weren't going to find a connection between Dana and Nia because Dana had never been seen in that town before and had slipped past everyone. Until now.

She waited in the diner for hours. Hope that he would show was beginning to fade with the sun. She'd used the restroom a couple of times since she walked through the door. Each time was a cautious return to her booth, just in case the Centre decided to make a surprise appearance.

She was beginning to feel confident they weren't going to find her this time. Especially since she hadn't done anything to draw attention.

It wasn't until her third trip to the restroom. She had finished drying her hands after washing them. She heard someone talking. Someone who wasn't afraid to speak loudly. She recognized his voice through the door, and it sent chills down her spine.

"I want people at every exit, including the climate control windows. Dana's not getting away this time," she heard Lyle say through the door.

Dana opened the restroom door just enough to see what was going on. Sweepers were surrounding the building, both inside and out. Lyle went to the booth she had been sitting in all day and took a seat himself. Sydney sat across from him.

"Wasn't her escape planned by you?" Sydney asked.

Lyle looked at Sydney with eyes that said don't remind me before voicing, "Everything was fine until she removed the trackers while on the boat. She's escaped countless times since then."

Not again she thought. He has no problem shooting me, no matter how valuable I am.

"Using her to get Jarod back is still a guarantee."

"Jarod will help those who truly need him. Dana isn't in need of his help. How can you be certain she's a guarantee?"

"He'll do anything for his family, Sydney. We lie and tell him she's his."

Sydney appeared to be thinking about this plan. Then he said, "It just might work. But Dana doesn't use her real name. Jarod will be looking for someone with her real first name."

"She's also apt to change her look," Lyle said snapping his fingers as a solid plan began to crumble before him.

Dana quietly closed the restroom door. She slowly released the knob so as to not let it snap back in place.

She located a vent in the ceiling and pushed it up and over. Dana didn't need to go far into the air ducts. She just needed to hide until Lyle decided to leave.

She climbed inside making as little noise as possible. The air conditioning was concentrated in the ducts, making her teeth begin the chatter as she returned the vent to its rightful place.

Crawling through the ducts to get closer to Lyle and Sydney seemed like a good idea at first. Her wrists weren't magnetized... yet.

"Looks like we've got some DSA's in here... either one broke on its own or she snapped it in half. One of these has been marked," Sydney said as he rummaged through her pack.

"Let me see that," Lyle said holding his hand out.

Sydney gave the disc to Lyle who place it in his own player. Lyle saw why Dana had marked the disc. So she could prove the Centre's plans for Jarod if he didn't believe her if she found him.

Lyle motioned for a sweeper to come over to the table and instructed, "Take these to the car. We have the research. Now we just need the subject wherever she is. What else is in the bag?"

Sydney removed the remote. Dana's kryptonite. Lyle took it from the doctor's hand and acted as though he was examining it.

"She knows about the remote," Sydney said. He wasn't expecting a huge surprise in Lyle's response, but he still got more than he bargained for with Lyle's raised brow.

"And I bet she knows all of its functions," Lyle replied sadistically. He pressed a button.

A small part of the ceiling began to rattle, then, a piece of the duct fell through. The piece Dana was hiding in.

She was still thrashing violently inside the metal rectangular tube as Lyle had yet to release the remote's button. Her body went limp when he finally lifted his finger. With a push of another button, Dana's wrists came together involuntarily and essentially glued her to the duct's wall.

She was out, once again barely able to discern what was happening to her. A sweeper came in, lifted her into the air, and carried her out the diner's front door. He tossed her into the back seat of a company limo and turned the child lock on, preparing for anything.

Everything was a blur, but Dana thought that she had seen puddles of blood as she was carried from the building. What little she knew about Lyle confirmed that killing everyone was something he would have done to prevent someone from reporting a kidnapping.

Little did anyone from the Centre know, someone was watching from afar. And help would soon be on its way.